Preschool
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“A child starts from nothing and advances alone. It is the child’s reason about which the sensitive periods revolve. The reason provides the initial force and energy, and a child absorbs first images to assist the reason and act on it.”
It is not a requirement that your child has participated in our Nido or Bambini Program to enrol in our Preschool Program.
Children at this age are engaged in what Maria Montessori called “a process of self-construction” – they are keenly observing the world around them and absorbing knowledge and experience at an enormous rate.
During this age your child will go through “sensitive periods” which can be thought of as windows of opportunity for a child when they are interested in particular aspects of their environment to the exclusion of all others.
These aren’t chosen at random by the child: they are driven by an inner need for development. You may notice this yourself in your child as they show an intense interest in repeating certain activities or actions at length for no obvious reason!
We have two preschool rooms – Jarjum, meaning “Children” and Yindyamarra, meaning “Love, Respect, Do Slowly”.
Our Preschool classrooms are designed carefully to harness the huge potential for self-development children have at this age. Materials from across our six main curriculum areas of Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Mathematics, Science and Culture are laid out in a logical, orderly fashion; from left to right, top to bottom, at the appropriate height.
These materials are designed to attract the children to touch, explore and choose the work that they are most receptive to, and thus best able to absorb, at that point in time. Everything in the environment is there for a particular purpose.